Slave fort, the former James Island, Gambia River |©Greg Gross
When it comes to travel and tourism, West Africa is sitting on a potential gold mine. Much work needs to be done, but the opportunity is clearly there, waiting.
There once was a British colony in West Africa called the Gold Coast. Built on trade, slavery and dedicated to the proposition that Africa existed solely to make Europe rich.
Look at West Africa today and you see the potential for a different kind of Gold Coast, a new mecca for international travel.
Thousands of miles of coastline. Unspoiled habitats. People with international reputations for welcoming visitors. How much more does one region need to succeed?
Resort tourism. Eco-tourism. Adventure tourism. Cultural tourism. Heritage tourism. Sport fishing. Surfing. Food. Music. Even high fashion. The nations of West Africa contain elements that lend themselves to any or all of this. And the region is perfectly positioned to take advantage.
Start with the geography.
Being close to the Equator gives it a warm tropical climate within an easy flight of Europeans ever eager to escape their brutal winters.
But the real surprise comes when you look to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. West Africa is closer to the United States than any other part of the Mother Continent.
That’s critical, because that geography also plays a key role in creating what may be the most powerful lure for West African travel: heritage tourism from the Americas.
Row of kora players, International Roots Festival, Banjul, Gambia | ©Greg Gross
The West African region was Ground Zero for the trans-Atlantic slave trade, a triangular route in the northern and mid-Atlantic.
At the height of its 400-year run, Europeans were taking captive Africans from eight principal regions on the Mother Continent; coastal West Africa covers six of them.
If you’re black and were born anywhere on the western side of the Atlantic Ocean, there’s a good chance that your DNA can be found somewhere here.
The success of Alex Haley’s book “Roots: The Saga of an American Family,” and the wildly successful TV series that followed it, showed clearly the interest that black Americans have in learning about and reclaiming their African heritage. In West Africa, you can see that heritage for yourself, hear it, taste it, hold it in your hands.
From New York City or Washington DC, your flight to Dakar, the capital of Senegal, will last a shade over seven and a half hours. From Atlanta, about eight and a half.
If you’ve ever flown from the West Coast of the United States to virtually anywhere in Europe or Asia, you know that any flight under ten hours is a snap.
From South America, where the legacy of the trans-Atlantic slave trade is at least as strong — and the memory at least as painful — as it is here in the States, the flight times are even better:
- Rio de Janeiro-DKR: 6 hrs, 14 min.
- Caracas-DKR: 6 hrs, 41 min.
- Montevideo-DKR: 8 hrs, 30 min.
But while Africa may be our heritage,black Americans — indeed, Americans of all races — generally lack the cultural familiarity with Africa that Europeans, with their colonial backgrounds, take for granted.
No part of the Mother Continent is better positioned to introduce Americans to Africa, and introduce black Americans to their African heritage, than West Africa.
Several West African countries are English-speaking while others are francophone. Americans who can culturally navigate London and Paris wouldn’t have much trouble finding their way around Banjul or Accra or Dakar or Abidjan.
Indeed, there already are travel agencies in the United States that sell tour packages to West Africa, many of them focusing on the history of the slave trade. But the possibilities are so much greater.
None of this will happen easily or overnight. Infrastructure is a huge need throughout the region. Some West African countries are still trying to escape the shadow of political violence. And there are health concerns to be conquered, not the least of which is malaria.
And for some, the mere act of trying to build a tourism industry will be a giant leap into unknown territory, for some have never really made a serious attempt to market themselves to travelers.
But if the nations of West Africa can stabilize themselves, attract the investment they need, focus their energies on building a tourism offering that makes use of their best attractions — and most of all, if they can cooperate with one another, West Africa could become one of the world’s greatest travel destinations.
A lot of big “ifs,” I know. But the way I see it, small dreams are a waste of sleep.
as someone who has lived and traveled extensively in west africa, i think i might want to poke a few holes in your post.
first of all: flights. from south america, there is no real easy way to get to west africa or anywhere else on the continent. there are FOUR “regular” routes from south america to the african continent. FOUR. two of these involve buenos aires — one to cape town on malaysian, the other to joburg on south african. i get the feeling you looked at expedia, which does make direct line maps, instead of actually trying to plan dummy flights, which would give you a much better idea of the overall lack of air links between africa and south america.
and unless you happen to live in atlanta, washington or new york, there’s no easy way to get to west africa from north america either.
[i'm guessing you're not considering the montreal-casablanca flight on air maroc as part of this article. air maroc has extensive links to west africa; if you're really adventurous you'd fly to montreal, spend a day there, casablanca, spend a day there, and then head to west africa. or maybe pick up montreal and casablanca on the way back.]
… which brings us to the other major factor keeping americans in particular from west africa: vacation time. as you know, it’s not legally mandated at all in the united states, and most employers barely give any. coupled with the mandatory layovers [unless you live in metro dc, ny, or atlanta], you are losing a lot of time just getting there. that is by far a bigger problem, given the collective lines of work of most americans of color, between black americans and west africa than any perceived infrastructure problems in west africa.
i say “perceived” because issues with infrastructure do not keep people out of the caribbean or central or south america. travel time, however, makes it easy to get in and out for people in the states. you also need to take a malaria prophylaxis for another big tourist region — southeast asia. not to mention various armed conflicts going on in other regions as well.
but there are lots of charter and commercial flights for tourists to get from europe in and out of west africa. they can go back and forth between west africa and the caribbean, for example, in similar numbers because…. they get a lot more mandated vacation time.
when i lived in washington, i was in santo domingo every other weekend without using vacation time. i know people who live in madrid who spend similar amounts of time in dakar, accra, and abidjan [when people aren't shooting at each other].
it’s far more about time than about almost anything else. i’ve written about that before, but i’m sort of jet lagged, having flown yesterday from cape town to philadelphia via london. i’m running around with things i need to do, but if i can find it, i’ll email you or leave a link here.
The flight times from South America were based on actual calculations based on distance divided by airspeed. The relative dearth of direct flights from the Americas to Africa is definitely one of the challenges to the development of West African tourism, but certainly nothing that can’t be overcome.
Your Montreal suggestion via Air Maroc is indeed a good one. For that matter, travelers from the West Coast of North America to fly top Europe, spend a couple of days knocking around in London or Paris before continuing on to West Africa. So while it’s now a definite challenge, it’s far from impossible.
Vacation time is indeed a major issue for Americans, all the more so because Americans often end up voluntarily giving back some of the relatively few and precious vacation days they do get. But it still can be done.
But for all the difficulties, I suspect the biggest obstacle for a lot of Americans lies in the perception of Africa, all of Africa, is an extremely difficult, dangerous place that is out of their reach in distance, time and cost. It will take some time and work to change those perceptions, but it’s not impossible.
I have traveled to West Africa about seven times once to East Africa. I have gone on different airlines. Its a challenge but well worth the trouble. Its much better now since my first trip to West Africa in 1995. My latest trip was March 2011 on Delta’s direct flight out of Atlanta, I am about one hour flight from Atlanta. I do try to encourage others to travel to Africa. The perception for many is exactly what you said, Africa is dangerous place. I’ve had few to change their mind my mother was one of them.